


Home is Wherever I’m With You

by CaptainAwesome242



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Cute, Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Tumblr Prompt, across the universe, places
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-16 15:46:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17552525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainAwesome242/pseuds/CaptainAwesome242
Summary: A series of short, unrelated drabbles based around Ten and Rose.Each one is inspired by a place or location.





	1. Cliff Top

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know how many I’ll write yet so I haven’t guessed a total, but I do have a few already written. I also don’t have an update schedule or anything like that, but none of them will be cliffhangers so you don’t need to worry about that, so yay!
> 
> Title taken from Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros

The view was magnificent.

Mounds and valleys of soft, crimson sand stretched for miles down the coastline in each direction, acting as a buffer between the ivory cliff face and the deep, indigo ocean. The turquoise sky was mottled with navy wisps of cloud, allowing rays of pure white light to shine through the gaps and sparkle playfully on the rippling surface of the calm water. It was a picture of tranquil beauty.

At least, that was how the Doctor was describing it. Rose couldn’t see a thing.

The only thing that wasn’t calm and peaceful about the scene was the wind, which whipped and thrashed belligerently around them. Rose, who nearly always wore her hair down, was beginning to rethink the practicality of this style as she tried unsuccessfully to peer through the blonde locks that were plastered to her face.

“You’ll want to walk on the sand, the powder is so fine it’s like walking on silk, and the sea is always warm. No matter what time of year, no matter how cold it is the water never gets any colder, isn’t that brilliant!”

“Oh, yeah, sounds great,” Rose said, trying to sound enthusiastic but getting increasingly frustrated by her hair. Every time she brushed it away with her fingers it would immediately blow right back into her face, covering her eyes and sticking to her mouth.

“Are you alright there?” the Doctor asked, amusement evident in his tone.

“Just great,” Rose was sarcastic, but not bitter, “of all days to not bring a hairband,”

“Here, hold on,” 

Rose could hear him rummaging in his pockets and couldn’t help the scoff of disbelief at his triumphant “Aha!”

“Don’t tell me you actually found a hairband in your pocket, what’ve you got one of them for?” Rose asked. She reached a hand out to accept it but to her surprise the Doctor didn’t give it to her, instead he placed his hands in his hair and began braiding.

“You never know what you’re gonna need, the Boy Scouts have got it right; it’s good to be prepared,”

“I wouldn’t know about that, I got kicked out of Girl Guides. But never mind that, since when did you learn how to braid hair?”

The Doctor had pulled her hair back faster than she would have believed possible, section by section until her vision was clear and she could see the view; it really was as spectacular as she had hoped.

Although she couldn’t see him, Rose could almost hear his eyes rolling as he said, “Rose, I’m over 900 years old, do you really think this is the first time I’ve ever braided anyone’s hair?”

She felt a bit silly when he put it like that and a redness crept into her cheeks, “I guess I never really thought about it,”

The Doctor hummed as he tied off the end, before taking Rose’s hand with a smile, “Better?”

“Loads,” she agreed, running her fingers down the perfect plait with her free hand, “thanks,”

“No problem. Just don’t ask me to do your hair before every adventure, there’s no place for domesticity aboard my ship,” the Doctor faked a shudder at the thought.

Rose grinned, “Alright, alright, now what were you saying about sand as soft as silk?”

The pair ran down the rocky path, Rose’s braid swishing securely behind her.


	2. Chip Shop

Chairs scraped noisily and voices chattered louder and louder, clamouring to be heard over one another. Orders were called and friends greeted each other, heels clicked and boots stomped on the linoleum floor. Papers rustled and salt pots were banged down.   
  


Rose heard none of it, it was just white noise to her.

Physically she was sat in a booth in a chip shop in South London, but mentally she was years away (light years and time years). What had started out as a quick sightseeing stop in the Delta quadrant had rapidly turned into a fight for survival that most didn’t win. It was sheer luck that her and the Doctor had made it out alive.

She sighed, pushing another chip into her mouth. Neither of them had suggested to come here, at least not verbally anyway, but they had an unspoken agreement that when an adventure had been particularly trying or upsetting they went for chips afterwards. Rose couldn’t speak for the Doctor, but she found it reassuring to be in her own time period eating one of her favourite comfort foods. It hadn’t escaped her notice that this particular chip shop was only a few streets away from her mum’s flat, though she didn’t comment.

A few tables down a glass smashed and a chorus of jeers erupted. It made Rose think of the shattered windows and the screams that followed, of the terrified people running for their lives. 

She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts. She didn’t want to think about that right now, couldn’t, so she looked around the table searching desperately for a distraction. Grabbing the salt shaker, Rose doused her chips with far more salt than was healthy.

“You know, chips aren’t chips without salt,” she said bluntly. 

Across the table the Doctor sat up straighter, startled into awareness. He removed his chin from his hand and crossed his arms, leaning on his elbows, “Oh?”

“Yeah. You have to put salt on chips, it’s just a thing. It’s like, having a roast dinner without gravy, or a bacon sarnie without ketchup, it’s just one of those things you have to do. Chips just aren’t the same without salt. You can have them without ketchup but not without salt, that would just be wrong. A chip without salt isn’t a chip it’s just a boring bit of potato, you need something extra to make it work, do you know what I mean?”

Rose was aware she was rambling but she couldn’t help it. It was a nervous reflex. As long as it distracted her from what she was worried about she could talk all the live long day. Most of her report cards had called her a chatterbox, although that was less of a nervous habit and more because school bored her and she’d rather be gossiping with her friends. It was only when the Doctor began talking again that she realised she’d been rambling inside her head too.

“I’ve never thought chips have tasted as good since they stopped serving them in newspapers,” he began, keenly award of her need for a distraction and more than willing to provide one, “they stopped doing it for health and safety because they thought the ink going on the chips might be bad for you, but in all honesty that’s where all the flavour was,”

“Exactly! People keep doing things to stop chips tasting good when they really need to just leave it alone. Next time we should go back to when they did serve them in newspapers,”

The Doctor’s lips quirked into a half smile, “Deal,”

They sat there long into the night, debating the superiority between chips and fries, arguing over the validity of sweet potato fries and whether they counted as chips, and the merits of straight cut over crinkle cut oven chips. All in all they were glad of the distraction, and when they left the shop it was with fuller stomachs and lighter hearts than when they entered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration for the chips in newspaper conversation comes from the novel Feast of the Drowned by Stephen Cole


	3. At the Console

The Doctor emerged from the lower levels of the console room backside first, regretting just now his decision to dive in headfirst.  

He’d been tinkering with the controls, wiling away the hours until Rose woke up, when a warning alert had sounded from beneath the deck. Tearing up the grille he’d clambered in, crawling and wriggling between the wires and cables until he happened across the problem. Stuck to one of the sensors, and thus blocking all function, was a melted, green jelly baby. Scoffing in surprise and grumbling about his former self’s addiction to the chewy sweets, he’d peeled off the sticky mess, wiping the panel off with his sleeve for good measure. He’d then had to climb his way out backwards. 

Now, flopping down on the jump seat he pulled a stack of lime green post-it notes and a pen from his pocket and began to write. Pen scratches filled the room as the Doctor scrawled a reminder to himself, and any future selves, not to eat jelly babies, or any other food, in the console room. 

As he was putting the final circles and swirls into the message when Rose sauntered in, hair still damp from the shower.

“Hey!” She greeted cheerfully. 

“Morning!” He replied, ripping the note off with a flourish and sticking it to the edge of the screen amongst the others.

“What’s that?” Rose asked. 

“Just a reminder not to have food in here, I found a jelly baby welded to one of the sensors below deck,”

Rose laughed, “You and your sweet tooth. So how come you need reminders then? I thought your superior Time Lord brain remembered everything,”

“It does!” The Doctor replied indignantly, “Well, all the important stuff anyway. These are just for little things,” 

“Like not dropping your sweets everywhere?” Rose asked cheekily. 

“Exactly,” he confirmed.

Rose peered curiously at the notes. She’d always found them interesting to look at, Gallifreyan was such a beautiful language; the swirls and circles, the lines and dots, it was all so expressive. It was the one language the TARDIS didn’t translate, and Rose was more than willing to afford the Doctor his privacy, but in this instance she was just too curious.

“What does this one say?” She asked, pointing to one on the left side of the screen. 

Though his face betrayed nothing, the Doctor panicked. Of all notes for her to have picked, of all the Gallifreyan about the console and she asked him about  _that_  one.

It wasn’t a reminder, goodness knows he didn’t need any help remembering this, it was his confession. His declaration of love for the human he held so dear. The words ‘Rose Tyler, I love you’ flowed elegantly around the circle, tracing the pattern that had burned itself into his mind and soul. His hearts stuttered every time she looked at the inconspicuous note, and he wondered irrationally if she knew. 

She had no clue of course, that’s why it was there. Hidden in plain sight, in a language she had no hope of understanding, it was the only way he could tell her how he felt. 

But now she’d asked. Now could be the time when he stopped dancing around his emotions and told her the truth. 

His eyes locked on her expectant face, he took a breath and told her, “It says ‘get milk’”


	4. Alien Bazaar

The market square was bustling with many different forms of life, aliens Rose had never seen before and some she recognised all crowded in together, trying to get access to the many stalls. Rows upon rows of sturdy tables ran in meandering lines across the mosaic-tiled floor making it easy for them to follow the natural flow of the place. An airy canopy far above protected the customers from the heat of the three suns but allowed in plenty of light.

When Rose was little Jackie used to take her to the market on the weekends. She remembered pushy crowds and vendors shouting, and clinging onto her mum’s hand to not get swept away with the rushing masses. It was the complete opposite here; despite the high number of people all gathered in one place the whole atmosphere was far more relaxed. Everyone was taking their time and no one was pushing, aside from the odd nudge here and there. No one was rushing. 

Except for Rose.  

Well, she wasn’t rushing exactly but she had a mission, and it had to be done here. 

She moved between the tables with all the ease of a seasoned shopper, eyes skipping over each of the wares until she found what she was searching for. It was difficult when she didn’t know exactly what she was looking for, but she was certain she’d know it when she saw it so she kept moving, shuffling between patrons and squeezing between gaps. 

When she wasn’t looking at the items on sale, Rose was keeping half an eye out for the Doctor. Not that she thought he’d leave her, it was actually the opposite she was worried about - it would be rather difficult to choose him a birthday present if he was looking over her shoulder. She noted with relief that he was engaged in a rather energetic conversation with a creature who seemed to be made of rocks on the other side of the bazaar, so she carried on looking.

With each new table she passed she grew less and less hopeful of finding anything she wanted to give him. Rose knew her friend wasn’t a very materialistic person but she’d hoped she’d spot just the thing to give him, something useful that he’d really like. But, she realised, what could she really get for the man who had all of time and space at his disposal to get whatever he wanted, whenever he felt like it. 

She sighed as she approached the final table, which didn’t sell any objects at all, just drinks. 

“Are you alright, love?” the elderly woman behind the stall asked, her orange skin wrinkling as she frowned.

“Yeah,” Rose answered, not very convincingly, “I was just looking for a present for my friend,”

“Lots of things to choose from here,” the woman gestured to the vast marketplace, “maybe too much to choose from?”

“Maybe. It’s just that he’s kind of already got everything he could need, I can’t think of anything to get him that he’d want,” Rose sighed. 

The old woman hummed, “If he has everything, then he doesn’t want anything. If he doesn’t want anything, you can give him anything at all, and he will want it because it came from you,”

“What do you mean?”

“People who have things, value people over things. If his friend took the time and thought to get him something, then the actual present won’t matter as much as the thought that you cared. If he cares about you as much as you clearly care about him, he won’t care if you give him a handful of sand, as long as it came from you, he’ll love it,”

Rose pondered this for a moment and realised she’d been looking at it all wrong. Of course the Doctor wouldn’t want a little trinket or ornament from a market stall, he’d want something that showed she cared and that she knew him. She grinned gratefully at the old woman, an idea forming in her head. 

“Thank you, I know what to get him now,”

~~~ 

“There you are, I wondered where you’d gotten to,” the Doctor had taken Rose on enough adventures to know that she could handle herself, but that didn’t stop his hearts from racing when he didn’t immediately know where she was.

“I went to get something for you, Happy Birthday!” Rose handed him the lidded ceramic cup.

The Doctor took it dumbly, staring at her in confusion, “... it’s not my birthday...”

“Maybe not,” Rose conceded, “but I’ve been travelling with you for over a year, which means that one of those days _was_ your birthday and you never said anything,”

He started shaking his head, “Not every planet marks a year by 365 days, you know,”

“Whatever,” Rose brushed him off, “it’s a little bit late, or an extremely late, or a really early birthday present,”

For a moment, the Doctor only stared at her and Rose worried she’d done something wrong, but then he took the lid off, designed to keep the contents cool, and smiled. 

“Rose Tyler, you are something else,” he said fondly before taking a sip of the banana milkshake, humming with pleasure as he licked off his creamy moustache, “This is amazing, thank you so much,”

He secured the lid on top and pulled her in for a hug, touched right to his core at the compassion Rose continuously showed to everyone around her. 

Rose smiled, glad she’d made him happy. As they walked away hand in hand she caught eyes with the old woman at the drinks stall and grinned, flashing her a quick thumbs up. 

The woman’s face crinkled with joy; another happy customer.


	5. Medbay

“This one?” Rose asked, hand hovering over a small, metal device.

“Not that one, the one next to it. On the left,” the Doctor instructed.

“This one?”

“No, the other left,” he corrected irritatedly.

“So, the right then,” Rose clarified, completely unaffected by his tone.

“Yeah, alright, I am watching through a mirror you know,” snarked the Doctor.

Rose let his words wash over her as she picked up the gadget and returned to stand next to the bed, upon which the Doctor was held in place by thick, leather straps, “Well, you wouldn’t be in this position if you’d just sit down like I told you to, otherwise you’d be hobbling around making that foot worse,”

The Doctor scowled, “It would not be making it worse if it’s not even that bad in the first place,”

Rose cocked a sceptical brow, “I saw the way you fell, an’ I’m pretty sure I heard a crack when you landed,”

“It was the ice,” he grumbled.

“Uh-huh,” Rose hummed disinterestedly, it was the same story he’d been sticking to since the incident.

The Doctor had taken them to the frozen planet of Tosh-Pa in the Padoji system, where the ice was pink and the sky was green. He’d been eager to show off the way the sunlight and moonlight shone through the peaks of ice simultaneously, sending magnificent beams of light across the frosty landscape. He’d been dying to see the wonder on her face as it glowed in the reflected light.

Instead, he’d taken two steps out of the TARDIS and slipped, the thin soles of his sneakers giving him zero traction, and landing painfully on the unforgiving ice.

He’d leapt immediately to his feet, eager to move past the embarrassment, only for his ankle to give out and send him tumbling towards Rose, who’s chunky boots allowed her to keep her balance even when his weight was unexpectedly thrown into her. She’d ignored his protests and dragged him straight to the medbay, holding him up as he limped every step, and had had to resort to strapping him to the bed when he kept trying to walk on his clearly injured foot.

Navigating the medbay had been difficult when she didn’t have a clue what most of the equipment was, so she’d had to ask the Doctor, who was griping and grumbling at his current position, to help her find what to look for.

Rose held out the device she’d retrieved, “Now, is this the right thingy?”

The Doctor rolled his eyes, “Yes, that is the right ‘thingy’” 

He took the medi-scanner and calibrated it, which was far more difficult with his arms secured by his sides, before handing it back to her, “press the purple button then move it around the area, when it beeps press the green button,”

Rose wandered down to the end of the bed, “Do I need to take your shoe off?”

“No, Rose, that is a sophisticated piece of Time Lord technology, not one of your primitive Human contraptions, it can easily scan through anything,” 

Rose sighed but didn’t indulge him, she knew he liked to insult other species when he was stressed or upset and, being human herself, she supposed they were the first species to come to mind.

As she waved the device slowly above his injured foot a holographic image of the appendage appeared above it; bone, muscle and tendon all visible as a detailed picture of the Doctor’s foot was created. Rose was so engrossed in watching the hologram create itself that she didn’t even notice when the device began beeping.

“Rose, press the green button,” the Doctor reminded her and she was quick to comply, watching as the image seemed to scan itself before focusing on the inside of his ankle. Small circles of Gallifreyan text swirled into view next to the hologram, but going by the glare on the Doctor’s face and the blinking red light around what looked like a crack in the image, Rose didn’t need a translation.

“So... I guess it’s broken then,” she surmised.

The Doctor humphed and tugged against his restraints, looking like he’d been about to try and cross his arms. 

Rose took pity and loosened the straps, and to her surprise he didn’t immediately try and jump off the bed, instead he sat there looking all dejected. Rose’s heart ached at the sight, her usually energetic and bouncy friend confined to sitting down with an injury that would probably take a few weeks to heal. 

She perched on the edge of the bed and wrapped her arms around his rigid frame, “Its alright, Doctor, we’ll get it all healed up. Is there anything in here I can use to speed it up?”

“Yeah,” the Doctor said, looking around, “over there on the side, the small yellow one,”

Rose hopped down and fetched the small yellow square, “What do I do with it?” 

“Just put it on my ankle, it will do the work itself,” the Doctor explained.

Rose’s brow crinkled in confusion but she did as asked. As soon as the put the device on the Doctor’s leg it seemed to grow, and before long it had encased his leg from just below his knee down to his foot. Rose’s eyes widened in surprise as the yellow boot whirred and ticked, until just as suddenly as it had grown the thing retracted back to the small yellow box.

Rose picked it up, “Did that help?”

“Yeah, actually,” the Doctor answered, cautiously rolling his ankle and only wincing once.

But once was enough for Rose, “But still not back to normal, how long til it’s fully better?”

He’d been about to argue, but the look on Rose’s face was scarily reminiscent of Jackie’s and he didn’t fancy getting slapped. He sighed, “About three days,”

The look of abject misery on the Doctor’s face at the prospect of resting for three days almost had Rose bursting into laughter, but she managed to compose herself and muster up a sympathetic smile.

“Don’t worry, Doctor, I’m sure we can find something fun to do for three days. Maybe there’s some alien tv show we can binge watch, or something,”

The thought of snuggling up in front of the tv with Rose for three days had a small smile tugging at the Doctor’s lips no matter how hard he tried to keep pouting. He looked at her hopeful expression and his smile grew into a grin.

“Oh, you’ll love ‘By the Light of the Asteroid’...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the Light of the Asteroid is the show mentioned in the episode The Voyage of the Damned


End file.
